| Show A MGHT OP PERIL Salt Lake Drummers Almost Perish I in the Mountains Tuesday morning the 20th inst Andrew An-drew Kimball and Charles Hill travelIng travel-Ing In the interests of two Salt Lake houses staned from western Cache valley through the canyon for Malad Ida A triweekly mall has been running run-ning over this road all winter and the carrier a pld mountaineer has kepi i t the road open up to date makirjg his regular round on Saturday last The drummers having finished their business busi-ness on the Cache side made an effort to follow the stage back on Tuesday The road was broken no further than Hursts ranch two or three mile above the mouth of the canyon After being several times upset and rolled in the snow naturally making Jt interesting in-teresting they decided to break the track and go on slowly expecting of course to meet the stage at every turn of the road but the old mountaineer did not show up Monday night was one of the worst of the season fully ten inches of snow falling accompanied accompan-ied by drifting wind which filled eyery mark of the road In snow from twelve to twentyfour inches deep and by aid of a stick one of the boys managed t find the road there being two narrow paths beaten by the horses between and on either side of these narrow trails the snow was waist deep Stimulated Stim-ulated with prospects of beholding the stage and having a broken road they continued on one piloting the way treading the path the horse following and the other preventing the cutter from upsetting by keeping up the rear Encourag by the prospects of finding find-ing better roads at the mouth of the next canyon and of course not wanting want-ing to give up they continued on until l they had put the longest distance behind be-hind them and still no stage in sight Wading plunging and floundering short pulls and long rests little by little the summit was reached Night had come and the snow was still telling tel-ling but prospects of better roads oh the descent to the Ipng looked for city of Malad caused the weary drummers to almost forget their worn and sore condition From the summit two miles down the canyon on the Malad side of the mountain a narrow dugway makes the road near the top the descent Is fully 200 yards almost perpendicular But a few rods travel an over they went floundering In a huge snow drift but righted again and another effort was made but this time only to make I worse The horse fell with head and back over the dugway but fortunately the sleigh was deeply bedded in the snow and thereby saved Every move of the horse made the position more perilous and by the time the harness was extricated from the cutter the horse slid fully ten feet down the mountain side Kimball with him in his effort to save the horse Relieved of his harness and bridle the horse slid down and down every time he made an effot to get on his feet When all hopes were gone of getting the animal back on the dugway Mr Kimball urged him sliding down the mountainside mountain-side until he regained his footing plunging through the deep snow to the bottom of the hollow where the bewildered be-wildered drummers hoped the hungry brute might bro se on the brush and get shelter in the willows until morning morn-ing but more anxious lest their faithful faith-ful and valuable servant would perish from fatigue and > exposure In the i snow to his neck went Kimball in his I effort to get to where the sleigh was I and with great dilliculty joined his companion on the road where Mr Hill I was anxiously watching the fading jm mage of their last prospects of a ride I through the canyon Worn out as they I were the depth of the snow making I it impossible t recover their horse I that night the only alternative was to walk so packing their effects In the I cutter they setout for Malad About 200 yards below the scene of their narrow nar-row escape they came to a broken track where the mail carrier had been that day but finding i impossible to proceed pro-ceed returned to Malad Weary and i I vyprn out the boys trudged through he deep snow every few rods laying dov Q I to rest until near the middle of the unt al night they were taken in by William II Bishop near the mouth of the canyon and stretched their weary bones on the II I floor by the stove to rest and thaw out the drummers dreamed of men who had better pluck than judgment I Following the stage the next morn ing in another effort to cross the mountains aided by Mr Bishop and his team Mr Kimball returned to the scene of the coasting the night before Old Kent one of Grant brothers best horses stood at the bottom of the hollow up to his sides In snow in the tle place he reached the night before almost al-most perished with cold and hunger With great difficulty the two men got Koi t on the dugway and In a few hours the outfit was landed safely In Malad SALT LAKER |
